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I have been blessed to have travelled a great deal in my life,  but the older I get,  the more I find that the outer journeys, exciting as they have been, do not match up to the inner one.

I am finding that it is the inner journey, the spiritual path, that brings greater rewards and contentment. I’ve discovered that ageing can be enriching as I’m more inclined to self-reflection and just being in the moment, not something my younger self could have imagined.

In my youth, as a seeker for answers to life’s essential questions, I enthusiastically embraced this or that institutional religion, believing I would find the truth if I followed the practices prescribed by spiritual teachers and gurus. Many of these practices – yoga, meditation, prayer, chanting, visualisation, affirmations – have been of great value to me through life’s inevitable ups and downs, and I am grateful to have been pointed in a direction that remains beneficial.

I have not discovered such a thing as ‘the truth’, only that the answers for each of us are to be found within. A finger can point the way, but only the individual can make a choice appropriate to her development. So allow the path to unfold before you, follow your heart and remain true to your unfolding and authentic self. Even ‘mistakes’ or ‘wrong choices’ reveal something we need to know in our personal evolution.

All we ever are is a channel for the life-force to flow through us. The more open and free from prejudices and brain-washing we become, the greater the good we can do. When we reach a point in our understanding where no effort is required to be kind to one another, where this is simply the expression of how we feel about the richness of existence and an overwhelming sense of gratitude, this is the greatest thing we can learn. And sharing with others this understanding of who we are and what we are fortunate enough to enjoy in our lives is real communion.

Adapted from a contribution I recently made to  Is This What We Expected: Exploding assumptions about women's lives after 60,  for Ida 1, a creative conversation for the Ida Project, email: info@theidaproject.com